Carol Cox: What do you need for a transformational
personal brand?
That's what we're talking about on today's
episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast.
More and more women are making an impact by
starting businesses, running for office and
speaking up for what matters.
With my background as a TV political
analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I
interview and coach purpose driven women to
shape their brands, grow their companies,
and become recognized as influencers in
their field. This is speaking your brand,
your place to learn how to persuasively
communicate your message to your audience.
Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your
Brand podcast. I'm your host, Carol Cox.
Today we're diving into what makes a
transformational personal brand and the
three key elements that go into it.
First, if you haven't yet listened to last
week's episode, I talked with Ashley Harvey
all about your brand voice, especially when
it comes to your writing.
So it's social media, email newsletters,
your website, sales copy and so on.
Definitely go back and listen to that
episode after you listen to that one, if you
haven't already.
Now, if you think about your personal brand,
it's not the same as your company brand.
Now. They could be very much intertwined and
align with each other. Like my personal
brand is very much intertwined with speaking
your brand, because speaking your brand is a
very small business, and because I am the
face and voice of the company.
But your personal brand is not quite the same
thing as your company brand because your
company brand could change.
For example, I've had different iterations
of my career over the past 20 years.
I had two different technology businesses
and then started speaking your brand about
nine years ago, and I'll talk a little bit
more about that in just a moment.
So your personal brand will evolve as you
evolve and even as your career or your
businesses change.
So your personal brand, you can think about
it as the collection of experiences,
knowledge, expertise, values, points of
view, your personality, all of that, that
make up who you are and how you deliver your
work or your message.
It's also about how you show up because
everywhere that your personal brand can be
seen, heard, experienced and talked about is
you showing up whether you're there or not,
because you want people to be talking about
you even when you're not in the room, even
when you're not around, you want them to
mention you and also to refer you, whether
it's for prospective clients or for speaking
opportunities. I intentionally included the
word transformational in front of personal
brand, because I really feel like the work
that you do when you think about who you
want to work with, the message you want to
share, how you are the messenger for your
audience, you're really transforming
yourself as much as you're transforming the
audiences that are hearing you or reading
your content. If you think about what a
transformation is, it's learning more about
yourself and then making a change, or
learning more about an industry or a
community or society as a whole, and wanting
to have a positive impact to make some type
of change. So you're doing that yourself,
and you're also helping your audience do
that. So you're advancing the mission that
you have along with growing your business or
advancing in your career.
I mentioned that before I started speaking
your brand as a company in 2015.
I had had technology businesses, so in the
early 2000, during the.com boom, I got into
software development and built large
technology systems for fortune 500
companies. That was one aspect of our
technology business.
I also had another aspect where we built
software for political organizations and
candidates. So voter files, fundraising,
volunteer management websites and so on.
I've had some recent experiences just in the
past couple of weeks that have reminded me
how powerful a really clear and consistent
personal brand can be.
So I mentioned that there's three key
elements that I wanted to share with you for
what makes up a transformational personal
brand. So this is what I have come up with.
The first key element is that you want your
personal brand to be remembered.
Again, you want people to talk about you, to
refer you, to mention you when something
comes up that's related to what you do,
that's related to either what you do in your
business or your career, or that's related
to the overall mission that you have or
those values that you share.
So I want you to think about right now, who
is someone's personal brand that is
memorable to you, that you really like or
that you follow? And why is it?
What is it about them?
What is it about the kind of content that
they create or their personality, or how
they show up that makes them memorable and
makes them even aspirational to you?
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a
political fundraiser that was held on behalf
of four women who are running for office in
the Central Florida area where I live.
I'm always a big advocate of donating to
women who are running for office, because
women tend not to get as many donations as
men running for office, and they tend also
not to get institutional support.
I always say, if you find find women in your
local area to support whether they're
running for Congress or school board or
county commission and so on, and help them
out, whether it's a donation of $50 or $100
or more, it really does help.
I was at this.
I was at this fundraiser, and I was talking
to some of the candidates and some of the
other people who were there, and one of the
candidates went over and introduced me to
two men who were standing on the side.
And so I had my name tag on, and I introduced
myself, and one of the guys said, oh, Carol
Cox, I know you.
You did our website for when I was the
chairperson of one of the Democratic parties
in a neighboring county.
And I was like, wow.
And he said his name. And as soon as he said
his name, I recognized his name.
I just didn't recognize him because this was
probably 14 years ago, maybe 12 years ago,
that I had last had an interaction with him
when he was a client of that prior business
that I have. And the reason he remembered me
is not just because my company had built the
website for the county party that he was
running at the time, because I was such a
fierce advocate not only to support the
candidates who were running for office, but
to make sure that they had the technology
and the tools to make them competitive.
The second key element to think about for
your transformational personal brand is to
stay relevant.
As trends change, you want to make sure that
whatever you're talking about, whatever your
personal brand represents and stands for,
whatever your mission is, is also reflecting
these trends.
Because I have this background in
technology, and also because I want to make
sure that we have more women of influence
and leadership in tech and business,
politics and so on.
When ChatGPT came out two years ago now, I
was all over it. I want to make sure that
women are at the decision making table and
in leadership positions.
When we think about how AI is going to
affect all of us, from our work to our
education and so on.
So that is a trend I that I am infusing not
only into the work we do at speaking your
brand, but also into my personal brand.
It could be AI for you, it could be other
trends that are going on, such as
sustainability and environmentalism related
to climate change.
It could be about workplace culture and say
multiple generations that are in the
workplace now could be about wellbeing.
So there are trends that kind of ebb and
flow. For example, obviously when the
pandemic happened, it was very much about
remote work and then it became about hybrid
work. So you want to make sure that whatever
you're talking about, not just in your
business, but also your personal brand, so
you're speaking engagements and so on are
relevant. Connect to trends, connect to
things that people are interested in.
Recently, I was asked to be on a panel on
AI, and the reason is because the person who
had asked me to be on a panel saw me do a
virtual presentation, an online presentation
on AI. So this is another tip is to make
sure to say yes and to show up whether it's
for virtual engagements or in-person
engagements. The more that you say yes and
show up, the more and more people will see
what you're doing, and then you'll get asked
for other speaking opportunities, other
panels, media opportunities, and so on.
So I went to the event where I was going to
be on this panel, and I saw there someone
who I have known for the past 20 years, but
I haven't seen in person, or maybe at least
ten years ago.
Back 20 years ago, he owned a video
production company, and I was one of his
first clients for some videos and
commercials that we made at the time.
And so not only did he remember me, and I
remember him because he also has a personal
brand that's very memorable as well, but he
is staying relevant with I, which is why he
was asked to serve on this panel.
And I also am staying relevant with AI,
which is why I was being asked to serve on
this panel. So that's the second key element
is make sure that your personal brand is
relevant. The third key element for your
transformational personal brand is
relational. Make sure that you're building
your network, not just online.
I know it's easy to just be on LinkedIn and
just to post things and connect with people,
but really build your network offline as
well. Show up at meetings, at groups.
Go to conferences, whether the local
conferences or industry conferences.
The more that you show up, the more that
you're building your network.
You're building those relationships.
Relationships that I've had now for 20
years, as long as I've been in this
community here. And I see now people that
I've known for so long and they remember me
because of this strong personal brand that I
have, because my mission has always been so
clear and because I've always shown up so
consistently. For example, on election
night, which is just a day after this
episode airs, I will be back on the TV news
commenting on the election.
This will be the fifth presidential election
that I've done this for, starting in 2008,
all the way through now into 2024.
And the reason that I'm invited back on the
TV news is because of the relationships that
I built, relationships that I built with the
news directors and the reporters at
different stations, but also with my fellow
political commentators who also recommend
me, and I recommend them as well.
So the three key elements for your
transformational personal brand is that you
want to be remembered, relevant and
relational. Okay.
So now I'm going to give you some very
tactical, practical things that you do.
I've created a free workbook that goes along
with this episode with some of the things
that I'm about to share with you now, so
that you can actually work on them, and you
can get that free workbook at speaking your
brand.com/personal brand.
So altogether speaking your
brand.com/personal brand, the link is also
in the show notes. So here's how to actually
think about doing this to make sure that
your personal brand is remembered, relevant
and relational.
The first thing is that you want to map out
the spokes of your personal brand.
You are a multi-dimensional.
I'm sure you have different interests.
Maybe you've had very different things that
you've done in your career like I have, and
your personal brand is not just about your
expertise or about what you do in your
business or your career.
It's also about the things that interest
you, the conversations that you want to be a
part of. For example, the spokes of my
personal brand include things like speaking
and marketing. They also include history,
feminism, politics and tech and AI.
So at first glance, you may think, okay,
well, I kind of get how marketing speaking
going together and I get how history and
feminism go together.
But what about politics?
That seems like an outlier in tech, and I
definitely seems like an outlier.
But this is what makes me multi-dimensional.
This is what makes me interesting, and this
is also what keeps me relevant.
So how I connect these different spokes.
The connecting thread that I find is that
I'm always looking for the women in the
stories or their absence.
This is why I studied history, because I
wanted to find out what women were doing,
whether it was in 1850 or 1900 or 1940.
I wanted to know what were they doing and
why weren't they in my history books?
I also want to make sure that women have a
voice in decision making, in leadership, in
all of these different areas, and that I
also recognize the importance of
communication and advocacy in advancing
gender equality. I'm a big believer that
more women who have a public voice, who are
speaking on stages and in the media, that
that is a way to advance gender equality.
So you can see now then, how all of those
different spokes connect much more.
Again, you can get the worksheets that I'm
talking about here in that free workbook as
speaking your Brand.com slash personal
brand. So that's the first thing is to
define the spokes of your personal brand.
The second thing is to lead with your
mission and values, and you want to define
what your brand voice is, because your brand
voice is not just your tone and your
personality. It is that.
But it's more than that.
It's also your mission, your expertise, your
methodology, and your experiences.
And I have this brand voice canvas framework
that I created last year.
And in that workbook you can fill that out.
So for example, under the Brand Voice
canvas, for me under mission I have my
mission is to amplify and champions women's
voices and stories to have more women
influence in key positions in different
industries. My expertise is public speaking,
thought leadership, personal branding, my
methodology. I have these different
frameworks that I've created, whether it's
the brand voice, canvas, signature Talk
canvas, Escaping the Expert Trap, and so on.
And then experiences are the stories that I
share. So I share about speaking successes
and failures. The three stages women go
through when we use our voice, and so on.
So you can fill out the brand voice canvas
and see my example.
The third thing is to think about what your
brand story is.
So what is it that you stand for?
What is your unique viewpoint and
perspective for your industry or for the
work that you do?
What do you do or believe that's different
or challenges the status quo?
And what are those hard won lessons that
you've learned that you can share with
others? These questions are in that workbook
as speaking your brand.com slash personal
brand. So I want you to think about how do
you want your personal brand to be
remembered, relevant and relational.
And this work can be hard to do on your own
because you're so close to your own content
and to yourself because you're in your own
head. And also I often see is that we second
guess ourselves. We want to put something
out that's bold or maybe counterintuitive or
challenges the status quo, but then we back
down. Plus, it's really helpful to have
others to be a mirror and a sounding board,
and to have a coach to ask you the right
questions and to help you to see the bigger
picture and the connecting threads.
We do this in our online program called the
Thought Leader Academy.
We work with you both one on one and in a
small group on zoom, because this is online
on zoom. You can join us at any time.
You can get all of those details as speaking
your Brand.com slash academy.
And we have something very special coming up
in the summer of 2025, we're hosting a four
day in-person retreat in London, England,
that is designed to help you develop a brand
that's authentically you powerful, magnetic
and transformational.
You're going to have workshops and
activities. You're going to have one on one
coaching with us, feedback, practice
sessions. We're going to help you to really
develop your brand, your personal brand, but
also intertwine with your company brand if
you do have your own business.
All around our bold framework and you're
going to leave not only with your brand and
your brand voice defined, but also creating
brand assets that set you apart and draw in
those opportunities that you're looking for.
And of course, we're in London, so we're not
just going to stay inside and do workshops.
We're going to go see a play at
Shakespeare's Globe, we're going to do a
women's history walking tour and so much
more. The retreat is limited to 12 women, so
it's nice and intimate.
You're going to have an incredible time not
only working with me, with Diane and with
Ashley Harvey, who was on the podcast last
week. So go back and listen to that.
But also meeting incredible women leaders
just like you, who want to elevate their
impact. The dates of this four day retreat
are June 20th 9th to July 2nd, 2025.
You can get all the details as speaking your
Brand.com slash London again that's speaking
your brand.com/london.
You can fill out the application and then
schedule. We're going to schedule a zoom
call so we can talk.
I can find out more about your goals and
answer all the questions that you have.
I want you to have a transformational
personal brand, because I know that there
are incredible things you want to do in the
world, and having a brand that's remembered,
relevant and relational is a way that that's
going to happen. Until next time, thanks for
listening.